Travelers adjusting to new Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge

ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI)– It is a new view for St. Louis, paralleling the river and heading north before crossing the Stan Span.

“That’s a very good way of putting it, you actually go a little way North to come back and swing to the West,” says IDOT Spokesperson Joseph Monroe. “It drops you off just North of the Edward Jones Dome.”

The new Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge opened at noon yesterday, but travelers were already tweeting about the new addition to the area.

“The idea is to take 70 off the Poplar Street Bridge and move to this bridge,” says MODOT Spokesperson Greg Horn. “In two months we start work on the Poplar Street Bridge and start trying to make that a lot better.”

That’s right, that stretch of I-70 downtown will be renamed.

There’s still some confusion for commuters who were met with a closed sign this morning in Illinois.

Sunday’s snow kept crews from taking down that sign.

“It’s a massive change,” says Monroe. “It’s a situation that will switch all the loadings on all the bridges from Alton and the Clark Bridge all the way down to the JB. We figure some people will adjust their path each and every day to pick what works for them over the next few months.”

Experts agree it will take two to three weeks for the region to adjust.

And while some were excited about the new changes, some were confused as to what’s what in highways and bi-ways.

“What’s now 70 down in the city is called I-44,” says Horn. “So 70 is coming off the Poplar Street Bridge and what we’re going to do to the Poplar is take all the ramps off the Missouri side and make ramps that go to and from the Poplar Street to I-55.”

Both sides say this is the first part of a much bigger project in getting this region to work together.

“It’s not a Missouri Bridge or an Illinois bridge,” says Monroe. “It’s the region’s bridge and it connects the two states that need to work together to bring jobs and improved economy to this area.”